Transcript

00:00:03: Good morning this is Abby with your daily Berlin briefing for Wednesday September 13th 2017.

00:00:11: For operational reasons and with some regret insolvent airline Air Berlin cancelled about 100 flights on Tuesday morning dozens of which started from Tegel.

00:00:21: The company is asking passengers to check the status of their flights on the Air Berlin website prior to their arrival to the airport.

00:00:28: Travelers who are affected should be offered the best travel alternatives. The reason for the cancellation seems to be a coordinated pilot strike.

00:00:37: 200 of the 1,500 Pilots called in sick which is almost one in seven.

00:00:42: Many Pilots fear losing their jobs especially on well-paid long-distance flights. Recently several Intercontinental destinations have been cancelled.

00:00:52: Prices for the remaining long-distance connections have skyrocketed which could be a maneuver to get rid of the well-paid pilots ahead of a takeover by another airline.

00:01:01: Later in the day Air Berlin threatened to cease operations completely should the situation not change short-term.

00:01:08: In a press release the company stated that there is no understanding for the high amount of short-term sick reports which will cost several million euro and put final talks with potential investors at risk.

00:01:19: 8000 passengers were affected and rbb reported chaotic situations with long lines at Tegel and virtually no staff aside from three people at the info desk were available to help or inform customers,

00:01:31: further operational issues in cancellations can be expected for today a full list of cancelled flights can be found in our show notes.

00:01:41: On Tuesday Morning police carried out a major raid against an internationally active smuggling gang. In Berlin five arrest warrants were executed and a large amount of cash was recovered and secured.

00:01:54: The accused are said to have sent Nigerians to Europe by arranging fictitious marriages of men to Portuguese women in precarious financial situations giving them an EU residency.

00:02:05: According to the police a number of document forgeries were committed.

00:02:09: The searches took place mainly in Spandau Neukölln and Reinickendorf and further police raids were conducted in parallel and Potsdam, Görlitz, Frankfurt and Lisbon.

00:02:19: At least 70 fake marriages are under investigation for which each of the smuggled individuals have paid up to $13,000 euros.

00:02:28: The investigation group is a joint operation of the Berlin state criminal police office and the federal police. The investigations were also supported by the Portuguese police and Europol.

00:02:39: Since Monday foreigners can participate in a symbolic election in Berlin,

00:02:45: Several migrant organizations support the campaign "hier lebe ich, hier wähle ich" in order to give foreigners a voice, educate them about the party and election system in Germany and encourage them to participate in the Democratic process,

00:02:59: In Mitte about one-third of the population do not have voting rights for the federal election in September,

00:03:05: across Germany about 7.8 million foreigners are affected.

00:03:10: The elections are open until Sunday there about 20 polling places in clubhouses Kulturläden or District institutions. A link with a locations can be found in our show notes.

00:03:23: After summer break the Berliner Funkturm reopens again today after going through some renovations and improvements.

00:03:30: Elevator servicing the visitors platform at 126 M can now be seen from afar as its outside has been equipped with LED lights.

00:03:39: The tower is a landmark of West Berlin, was opened in 1926 for the third Funk Austellung and has been visited by more than 17 million people since.

00:03:50: To stay updated on local Berlin News every weekday subscribe to our podcast by visiting Berlinbriefing.de follow us on Twitter and Facebook or enable our Alexa skill,

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00:04:08: Berlin briefing will be back tomorrow thanks for listening.